


An Ax To Grind

by blakefancier



Series: Young Lovers [39]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-17
Updated: 2013-09-16
Packaged: 2017-12-26 20:04:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/969748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blakefancier/pseuds/blakefancier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maria takes Steve for coffee and  they talk about Steve's relationship with Howard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be funnier with a hundred times more talk of passing gas. But you know me. I'm sorry?

Someone was pounding on the front door. Someone was pounding on the front door and it was six thirty in the morning and if it was Bucky, Steve was going to break his nose. 

Steve stumbled out of bed, rubbing his eyes and grumbling about stupid bastards who came stumbling home after a drunken night and woke up respectable people who were still asleep. He unlocked the front door and yanked it open, ready to give Bucky a piece of his mind. But it wasn't Bucky. "Mrs. Stark," he squeaked.

"Good morning, Steve," she said, smiling brightly at him. 

"Hi. Uh, good morning." He felt flustered and embarrassed. "Tony's not here."

"I know he's not here." She pushed her way past Steve into the apartment. "I'm here to see you." 

"Me?"

"Yes." She looked him over slowly and that's when Steve realized that he was only in his boxers; he blushed. "Go get dressed. I'm taking you for coffee. Go on."

He nodded, then bolted out of the room. Why would Mrs. Stark want to take him to coffee? Was it about Tony? Was it about Howard? Oh, god, it was probably about Howard. He shut his bedroom door, pulled on a pair of jeans, and called Tony. 

When Tony picked up, he made a unintelligible sound that Steve translated as 'hello.' 

"You mom is here," Steve whispered frantically. "She wants to take me out for coffee!"

"What?" Tony sounded really out of it. "Who is this? Steve? What—Are you fucking my mom, too?" 

"Tony, be serious!" Steve paced the room. "Why is your mom here?"

Tony yawned. "I don't know, to take you out for coffee? Steve, I just got to bed  
about an hour ago. Call me later when you figure it out." Then Tony disconnected the call, the asshole!

Steve took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Okay, he needed to calm down. There was no reason for her to be mad at him because he hadn't done anything wrong. Maybe she wanted to talk to Steve about something important. Maybe something Tony related, like how he almost got Tony put in prison for hacking. Oh, God!

It took him twenty minutes to get ready and that was with him dragging his feet. Mrs. Stark was patiently waiting for him in the living room, sitting on the couch and flipping through the TV Guide. When he came in, she smiled and stood up. "I was afraid you'd climbed down the fire escape and left me here."

Steve's ears burned; he'd considered it. "I'm sorry I took so long, Mrs. Stark."

"Steve," she said, "You're fucking my ex-husband. I think you can call me Maria."

"Okay."

She laughed at him and took his arm. "Come on, I know this great little coffee shop with the best pastries."

***** 

Mrs. Stark spent the whole drive there talking non-stop about her charity work and how California weather was a hundred times better than New York weather.

She reminded him so much of Tony that he found himself relaxing. 

***** 

They sat in a quiet little corner of the coffee shop, sipping their caramel lattes and eating their scones—she got blueberry, Steve preferred vanilla bean.

"What did I tell you," she said. "Great pastries, right?" 

"Yeah, they're pretty great." Steve dusted the crumbs off his fingers and took a deep breath. "Why did you invite me to coffee, Mrs.—Maria."

She wiped her mouth with a napkin, cleared her throat, and gave him a long, considering look. "I've been meaning to talk to you since I found out about you and Howard."

He leaned back in his chair. "Why?"

"I'm going to be honest with you, Steve, and I want you to be honest with me. No matter how rude or cruel or horrible something sounds, I want you to feel free to say it to me. Can you do that?"

"I…" He wasn't sure what was going on here, but he was curious. "I can try."

"Good." She took a sip of her latte. "Now I'm sure you're going to tell me that you and Howard are none of my business and that's where you're wrong. You see, Steve, Howard's boyfriends, especially the serious ones, are always my business because they affect my son."

"Tony's okay with it," he said quickly.

"Tony is *not* okay with it. Tony is so far from okay with it, it's not even funny, and you know it." Mrs. Stark kept her voice low, but there was no doubt that she was angry. "Did you even think about how this would affect him? His best friend fucking his dad? Did you?"

Steve bit his bottom lip and curled his hands around his cup. Honesty, she said. He looked her straight in the eye and said, "No. No, I didn’t. But then I didn't think we would last for more than a few days. I hoped, but…" He shrugged, doing his best to ignore the guilt gnawing at his belly.. "I know I hurt Tony and I'm sorry about that, but me breaking up with Howard isn't going to change that."

"How long have the two of you been together?"

"I turned seventeen in July," he said. "That's the age of consent in New York."

"That's not what I asked." Both Tony and Howard were geniuses, so it was easy to underestimate her. It was easy to forget that Mrs. Stark was brilliant in her own way. 

"A year in September."

"Jesus Christ." Mrs. Stark pinched the bridge of her nose. "Of course it's been a year. Of course it has. Goddamn it, Howard."

Steve straightened in his chair. "We love each other."

She let out an amused huff. "Trust me, sweetheart, I know. Howard doesn't do long term relationships unless he's head over heels. And he doesn’t do that easily."

"Then what's the problem?" 

"The problem is that I don't think you're mentally or emotionally equipped to handle all of Howard's many issues."

"Why?" he said angrily, "because I'm young?"

"Because he's an expert at hiding them from the people he loves." Mrs. Stark reached over and touched his hand. "Steve, he's not who you think he is."

Steve snatched his hand way. "He's exactly who I think he is. You think because I'm only seventeen that I'm stupid. You think I don't see what's going on? You think that love's made me blind? It hasn’t been rainbows and… and goddamn unicorns this past year, you know. I've seen him low. I know he has problems."

"Problems?"

Steve crossed his arms over his chest and looked around the coffee shop; it was pretty empty. "I know he still struggles with being gay, I know that he has secrets about his past that he'll never tell me about, and I know that he sometimes drinks too much."

"He sometimes drinks too much?" She snorted. "I thought we were going to be honest with each other, Steve."

"Fine," he said, clenching his jaw. "He's an alcoholic."

"Yes, he is. And I know you think you can handle it. Steve, I've been there. I thought the same thing. But it's so much harder than you can imagine."

"I know! I've seen him at his worst!"

"Maybe you have," she said. "But that's not the part that gets to you. I was married to him for seven years. Seven years of picking him up off the floor, of putting him to bed, and making excuses. Seven years of cleaning up his vomit and listening to his promises of never again and… and… "Her voice broke. "And lying in bed, listening to him sneak into the room, smelling of booze and someone else. All you've been doing is playing house. You don't know what it's really like."

"I can handle it," he said, his voice shaking, though suddenly, he wasn't so sure anymore.

Maria sniffled and dabbed at her eyes. "It's okay if you can't, Steve. Just remember that, okay? And remember that I'm here, that you can talk to me. I know all of Howard's secrets." She waggled her eyebrows at him and he laughed. 

"All his secrets?" Steve drank his now cold latte and picked at his scone; his hands were trembling.

"Seven years of marriage doesn't leave many secrets. Living with another person is pretty disgusting once you move past the honeymoon stage." 

He frowned at her. "The honeymoon stage?"

"You know, the stage where you don't fart, burp, or pick your nose in each other's presence."

"Howard doesn't pick his nose," he said.

"Everyone picks their nose, Steve. Going beyond the honeymoon stage means you get to see it." She grinned at Steve and leaned in. "Do you know when I knew the honeymoon was over for us? It was about six months into our marriage and I was in the bathroom doing my makeup. Howard walks in, drops trou, sort of flops on the toilet and proceeds to—" 

"Stop!" Steve held up his hand, eyes wide with horror. "I get your point. Please stop." 

"People aren't pretty, Steve. We're messy and disgusting and if he's not letting you see that side of himself, if you're not showing him that side of yourself, then you're missing out on a level of intimacy that's very important to a relationship." 

"I'll remember that." Steve shifted in his seat and pushed away his scone.

"Only, keep him away from Thai food. He loves it, but it does not love him. It'll give him horrendous gas and let me tell you, the stench will curl your nose hair."

"Thanks, I got it!" He felt like slipping under the table and hiding until she went away, but he wasn't that lucky. 

"So." Her expression turned devilish and Steve braced himself. "I've always wanted to know. Howard's always been exceptionally good at oral. Does that translate? Is he as amazing at blowjobs?"

Steve's face went hot with mortification. "Maria!"

"Oh, come on. I've been dying to know." 

God, sometimes Steve forgot that Tony got his inappropriate behavior from both parents. "He's a very skilled lover."

"Isn’t he though?" Maria's expression went dreamy. "He used to do this thing with his tongue, that, oh my god, I don't know where he learned it but—"

Steve groaned, face planted into the table, and covered his head.

Maria just laughed. She laughed and laughed and laughed. 

*****

Steve knew that he wasn't supposed to visit Howard at his office, not without Tony, but his talk with Maria had been bothering him all morning. When he showed up at the office, Ms. Prentiss, Howard's new secretary, smiled at him. 

"I didn't realize that Tony was visiting today," she said.

"He's not." Steve smiled back at her. "I'm here to pick up a few files. Is Mr. Stark busy?" 

"He's just having lunch, dear. Why don't you go on in?" 

"Thank you," He slipped inside Howard's office, closed the door behind him, and locked it. Howard was sitting at his desk, frowning at his computer screen, and eating a pastrami sandwich.

"Ms. Prentiss, I told you I didn't want to be disturbed."

"Not even for me?" he said.

Howard looked up in surprise. "Steve? I didn't know Tony was here."

"He's not." He strode forward. Before he reached the desk, Howard got to his feet, which was perfect. Steve wrapped his arms around Howard and held on for dear life. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Howard stroked Steve's back. "What's wrong, babe? What did Maria do?"

"Tony told you?" Steve buried his face against Howard's neck.

"Yeah, he told me. What happened?"

"Nothing. We just went out for coffee and talked." He let out a shaky breath. "Do you think we're still in the honeymoon phase of our relationship?"

Howard groaned and pressed a kiss to Steve's hair. "Oh god. You're not allowed to hang out with my ex-wife again."

"Be serious." Steve lifted his head and looked at him. 

"I am serious," Howard said. "She's a bad influence."

"She has a point. We don't, you know, burp and fart in front of each other. That's not healthy. I want us to have a comfortable relationship. I want you to be able to use the bathroom when I'm doing my makeup. Well, not my makeup, because I don't wear make up... Unless, do you want me to wear makeup? Is that a thing for you? I could wear lipstick, that might be fun."

Howard pressed his hand to Steve's mouth. "You're babbling. We're fine."

Steve jerked his head, dislodging Howard's hand. "Howard!"

"Stop. Steve, please, just stop." Howard cupped his face. "Our relationship is perfectly fine. We're perfectly fine. You know how I know?" Steve shook his head and Howard continued, "Because I'm happy. Does being with me make you happy?"

"Yeah, it does."

"That's how I know." He kissed Steve on the mouth. "But if it'll make you feel better, the next time I have to pass gas with you in the room, I promise, I'll do it. Now can we *please* stop having this ridiculous conversation? Please?" 

"Okay." Steve sighed, still obviously displeased. 

Howard rolled his eyes and burped, loudly. "There, satisfied?"

Steve bit his bottom lip, then said, "That was really sexy."

Howard let out a surprised bark of laughter. "Shut up!"

"No, no, do it again. C'mon!" He gave Howard a coy look.

"Get out of here and let me eat my lunch."

Steve did, after a few more kisses.


	2. Epilogue: Howard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria and Howard finish a conversation they started about his relationship with Steve.

Howard pounded on Maria's hotel room door; he tapped his foot and fought the urge to buy the whole damn place just so he could kick her out. 

When she finally opened the door, she didn't look surprised to see him at all. 

"That was a fucked up thing to do," he said, pushing past her into the room.

"Well, come on in." She sounded peeved. She shut the door and turned around. "Would you like a drink?"

Howard made an impatient gesture. "He believed that bullshit, Maria."

"Good!" She flung her hands in the hair. "Because it wasn't bullshit!"

He pointed a finger at her. "Stay away from him."

"Stay away from him?" Maria laughed bitterly. "What? I'm in the wrong here? Me and not the guy who's been fucking his son's best friend?"

 

"Maria, stay out of it!"

"No!" She shoved his finger away. "You know what? I'm gonna tell you what I told Steve. I'm a part of this because Tony is a part of this. Tony, Howard! You remember him? Your son. Did you even think about him when you started fucking Steve? Was he even the tiniest consideration when you thought about shoving your dick into his best friend?"

Howard crossed his arms and looked away. The anger he'd had coming here was suddenly gone.

"Did you think about how it might hurt him? How it might still be hurting him?" She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Did he ever cross you mind?"

"Of course he crossed my mind—" Hadn't he?

"But what? You decided he didn’t matter? Is that what you decided, Howard? That a friendship he's had since he was three was worth the risk if you got your rocks off."

"It wasn't like that," he said softly. "Maria, it wasn't."

"Yes, it was. It always is, Howard." She on the bed, looking exhausted. "I know you love Steve. I know you do. But you have to think about Tony, too. It's your job, Howard. It's your job to think about your family, to protect them."

"I love Tony. You know that." He settled on the bed next to her and took her hand.

"I know. But does he?" She squeezed his hand. "You always hurt people and you never say you're sorry. It's hard to forget that."

"I'll talk to Tony, but you gotta lay off Steve."

She nodded. "Okay."

Howard looked at, really looked at her; she seemed tired. "Did I ever say I was sorry? For what I did to you?"

"No. No, you never did." Maria smiled sadly.

He kissed her on the forehead. "I'm sorry. I hurt you and I'm sorry."

"I know. I forgave you a long time ago. Still, it's nice to hear."

"I really hate the way you can derail me when I'm pissed off," he said.

"It's a skill I've honed through the years. Someday, I may teach it to Steve." She grinned. "Up my alimony and maybe I'll reconsider."

He laughed and put his arm around her. "I love you, too."


End file.
